July 31, 2021
It was an idyllic summer Saturday at the cornerstone town square bedrock of the Astoria-Ditmars area that is the intersection of 31st St. and Ditmars Boulevard; a place where the greatest variety of human beings in the world cross paths8 in harmony daily, enjoying the local shops and restaurants in the neighborhood. It is a place where buskers play and Love reigns.
Its Rockwellian brilliance would be invaded on this day by two of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's pristine new vaccine busses that dethroned the longstanding spot of the King of Falafel food truck, the owners of which are usually kind enough to give out free falafel samples to customers as they wait for their orders. Today and throughout this last weekend of July, however, the Mayor's Office would take its place and instead give out free samples of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine.
The vaccine busses had been seen throughout New York previously, alongside Astoria Park for example, but it was not until this weekend the government now began offering anyone who takes the "vaccine" $100 for doing so. Not that they were slinging out the Benjamins in cash however... to get your money required paperwork and having it sent to you after-the-fact, posing an issue for those without a home or bank account. One bus took in those looking to receive the "vaccine," administered by nurses from an undisclosed location according to staff Army of Love spoke to. A second bus held those just "vaccinated" for 15 minutes of observation before each recipient could depart.
Army of Love setup camp across the street in front of TD Bank and directly next to a COVID-19 "vaccine" informational booth handing out free masks, and informational pamphlets on the "vaccine."
In the name of Love itself Army of Love began performing songs while "souldiers" held signs expressing their opinions on medical freedom and concerning recent vaccine mandates enacted by De Blasio that will require more than 300,000 city workers over the course of August and into September to become "vaccinated" or else face COVID-19 testing every ten days and having to wear a mask at work.
A video of an original called "So Long Soldier" can be viewed here.
Citing a reputable researcher from a recently completed feature interview, Army of Love vocalized the concerns of those currently protesting "vaccine" mandates in the city including how they recall the fascism of Nazi Germany of yesteryear, how the "vaccine" is not FDA-approved, how the "vaccine" only got its EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) because there were deemed to be no other cures or medicine to effectively fight the virus, how the only reason fact-checkers have decided the "vaccine" does not violate the Nuremberg Code is because it has been deemed to not be "experimental," despite the mRNA "vaccine" being the first of its kind and many more.
"Delta Variant Variants," Army of Love's first attempt at a satirical, comedic feature, was read allowed, which offers 24 possible names for future variants for the government to consider, followed by who those strains might hypothetical infect or what affect they might have.
A video for an original entitled "Caesar Disease," can be viewed here.
In an inexplicable gaff, some of this message would periodically be broadcast through the public address system installed atop telephone poles in the town square that play Christmas carols during the holiday season for example. Army of Love joked that it was the 5G small cell tower atop one of the poles just above a speaker that authorities were trying to beam EMF waves at us with, only to find the radio waves having some kind of bluetooth side effect that picked up our amplifiers sound on the street and broadcast it through the speakers as it cut in and out of them for brief periods of time.
Here, Army of Love spoke on how Pfizer/BioNTech (not the FDA) conducted its own tests on thousands for Phase 3 to earn the Emergency Use Authorization it did.
The presentation was met with mixed reactions from the passerby, ranging from those in full support and appreciation for what Army of Love was doing in giving information one might expect not to hear from the mainstream media to inform them and allow them to form a more wholesome opinion as to whether or not to get the "vaccine."
A video for an original song entitled "What Have I Done" can be viewed here.
Others were not so loving. But in the end Love prevailed.
One man at first stood at the COVID-19 "vaccine" informational booth observing us then came at us with a barrage of endless profanity and hatred. Army of Love acknowledged its appreciation for the man's use of his Freedom of Speech, and asked if he cared to discuss any issues concerning COVID-19 or its "vaccines." He refused to say anything of substance, and Army of Love noted his blatant hatred backed up by nothing was very suspect and could hypothetically mean he is a crisis actor. Regardless, Love itself intervened when a man in support of Army of Love's First Amendment rights swung into our defense and an equal and opposite verbal backlash was unleashed that seemed to scare him off.
Another man wearing an MMA (mixed martial arts) shirt interrupted Army of Love to tell us we were not there out of Love because we were giving our opinions, and soon would be threatening to fight us and break our legs when our opinions did not match his own. Upon telling him that some people have researched the Sandy Hook shooting for example enough via independent journalism and documentaries to become convinced that the entire event revolved around crisis actors, his face turned beet red and his entire body started shaking. He threatened us with violence if we said another word about it.
The whole debacle can be seen here.
This marks the first time Army of Love had been threatened with violence while fighting for Love in the street. It is a moment that was anticipated, though what the reaction would be was not planned. Army of Love only began based on letting go of the ego and all fear associated with it, and a willingness to fight and die for Love. But in this man's changed physiology we empathized. We were not there to spread such feelings and reactions, but rather, Love.
So Army of Love chose to do all it could to calm the man down, not say another word on the subject, and to console him. This lasted only briefly, though, as he quickly found a new potential target in a random supporter of ours who stuck up for us. He began egging the supporter on for a new potential fight. This is a man who does mixed martial arts and fights people for sport.
Then suddenly in a single moment we watched as a wave of calm washed over him, and that edge of violence he stood on physiologically erased immediately; the color of his face changing back to its natural hue and the shaking ceasing.
He said we should thank God that he did not hurt us that day. Nothing more was explained, though he hinted at having been the victim of gun violence where the Sandy Hook conversation may have triggered him. This proceeded us getting back to performing as we headed to duet a version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."
At one point during the escalation a police officer interjected and asked if everything was alright, and Army of Love acknowledged it was. Later, as the would-be fighter threw in a few last verbal jabs we reminded him he threatened us with violence that we did not alert the police to, which he should be grateful for.
The police would soon come into play further, as two NYPD officers approached Army of Love and said they received a call that political statements were being made, and asked us to stick to playing music rather than making political statements.
That encounter can be viewed at the end of the video (10:39) seen here.
Army of Love attempted to ask the officers questions and were cut off immediately and told, "We tried the easy way, now we'll try the hard way," by the officers. They asked us if we had a permit, which we did not - as a member of Army of Love had previously played amplified music in that same spot off-and-on over the last five years while amplified and never had one issue with police - and threatened to shut us down if we did not stop making political statements. At that point the clicking sound of a camera taking a picture electronically could be heard coming from what seemed to be one of the two officers chest cameras, possibly capturing a closeup of the Army of Love.
The only thing remotely political Army of Love may have mentioned was George Soros, a known key contributor to the Democratic Party, to the Black Lives Matter organization, among other endeavors.
Army of Love agreed but explained the encounter publicly as the police left, urging them that we are hoping more people let go of party politics and unite rather than continue to divide, and how grateful we were for the local authorities allowing us to use amplification in a variety of locations without a permit.
A video that followed thanking the police for allowing Army of Love to play publicly throughout the pandemic and the performance of the original song "Live in Love" can be viewed here.
This caused a different NYPD officer who had been safeguarding the area all day to speak with us off the record, the conversation of which we will simply say ran in support of Army of Love.
The voice for the "vaccine" came publicly from a man who took our public invitation to take our microphone and use it to voice his story concerning the "vaccine." Unlike other interjectors, he came in peace, in his own words, with oxygen tank in tow, appearing perhaps emaciated and permanently damaged. He told his story of getting sick, going to hospital, being diagnosed with COVID-19, and after what he described as a very long time on ventilators, oxygen and other treatments that he credits with saving his life, he said if he had the option to go back and take the "vaccine" he would have, but encouraged everyone to make their own decision.
He then simply headed off. Army of Love got little information from the man or about him, and looked for signs that the oxygen tank he was hooked up to was on and being used but saw no gauges indicating such, nor heard sound coming from it.
As the day drew to a close an older woman shouted that we should just shut up and play music, but so many spoke with us in agreement and were happy to see people speaking out, which Army of Love was happy to do, and will continue to do for all those who cannot, for those who will not seek their own truth, and with information that will never be heard from the censored mainstream media.
Here, Army of Love spoke on finding a balance or "oneness" by looking at both what the mainstream and non-mainstream media have to offer, without allowing either side to envelope your mind with fear in order to remain in a state of Love.
In the end the question of whether to welcome the violence threatened to us by the MMA-shirt-wearing man or to attempt to pacify him would be answered by the end of the night, as Army of Love headed just down the same block on 31st St. to Mike's Diner for an Astoria Art Bites event it would be participating in that will be featured on this site soon. Had the man either broken a member of Army of Love's leg or led to a situation of trauma or arrest that would have ended our day, we would not have met so many more wonderful souldiers and artists in the Army of Love that night.
We thank what that man called God and what we call Love for intervening and making the answer to that question clear.
We Are One.
If you appreciate the work we're doing out of the grace of our hearts and Love itself, we could surely use your support in the form of donations, which can currently be sent to us through a variety of avenues via our Linktree at: https://linktr.ee/ArmyofLove
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